Military Communications: Strategies for Secure and Efficient Battlefield Information Systems

By Fouad Sabry

What is Military Communications

The term "military communications" or "military signals" refers to all aspects of various forms of communication or information transmission carried out by armed forces. Text, audio, facsimile, tactical ground-based communications, naval signaling, terrestrial microwave, tropospheric scatter, satellite communications systems and equipment, surveillance and signal analysis, security, direction finding, and jamming are some examples of the types of communications that are covered in Jane's Military Communications. The communication of information to commanders and the implementation of commands from them are the most pressing purposes.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Military communications

Chapter 2: Signals intelligence

Chapter 3: Tactical communications

Chapter 4: Allied military phonetic spelling alphabets

Chapter 5: Traffic analysis

Chapter 6: Diver communications

Chapter 7: Two-way radio

Chapter 8: NSA encryption systems

Chapter 9: Flag signals

Chapter 10: Secret broadcast

(II) Answering the public top questions about military communications.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Military Communications.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: Jun 18, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Military communications

The term military communications or military signals refers to all aspects of various forms of communication or information transmission carried out by armed forces. Text, audio, facsimile, tactical ground-based communications, naval signaling, terrestrial microwave, tropospheric scatter, satellite communications systems and equipment, surveillance and signal analysis, security, direction finding, and jamming are some examples of the types of communications that are covered in Jane's Military Communications. It is of the utmost importance to provide information to commanders and to receive commands from them.

The history of military communications extends from prehistoric times to the present day. From the beginning of military communications, runners were the ones who delivered them. Following then, the evolution of communication led to the development of visual and audio signals, and then it developed into the electronic age. These days, there are a lot of different points of view that are used to investigate how soldiers all around the world communicate. In the book The Word of Command: Communication and Cohesion in the Military, written by Anthony King, the author describes how military sociologists have sought to explain how military institutions acquire and sustain high levels of social cohesiveness. Because it enables soldiers to form connections with one another, establish trust in one another, and collaborate on the accomplishment of shared goals, communication is an essential component in the process of creating social cohesion in the military.

In previous centuries, in order to convey a message, it was customarily necessary for someone to travel to the intended location and bring the message with them. On account of this, the term communication frequently connoted the capacity to transfer both individuals and supplies. When a location was under siege, this meant that communication in both senses was suspended. In recent centuries, there has been a deterioration in the relationship between transportation and communication.

The first forms of military communication consisted of the employment of runners or the transmission and reception of straightforward signals, which were occasionally encoded in a way that rendered them unreadable. A term known as semaphore was used to describe the first distinguishing usage of military communications. In most cases, modern forces that specialize in these strategies are referred to as something called signal corps. One of the earliest examples of this style of communication is the Roman system of military communication known as cursus publicus or cursus vehicularis. Subsequently, the terms signals and signaller evolved into phrases that referred to a highly unique military employment that dealt with general communication methods (which are comparable to those used in civil use), rather than an occupation that dealt with weaponry.

On a daily basis, the military forces of an informational society engage in communicative activities that are both intense and complex. These actions are carried out with the assistance of contemporary computing and telecommunications technologies. Just a small fraction of these activities are directly connected to the actions that are being taken in warfare. By utilizing network-oriented techniques of communication and control, contemporary conceptions of network-centric warfare (NCW) aim to enhance the effectiveness of the forces that are already in place.

A number of early methods that were utilized by the military to transmit messages across long distances included the employment of drums, horns, flags, and horsemen on horseback. A organization that specialized in the strategies of military communications was established as a result of the introduction of distinguishing signals, which led to the foundation of the signal corps. As a result of the evolution of the signal corps into a distinct career, the signaller became a highly technical job that dealt with all of the available communication techniques, even civil ones.

Beginning in the middle of the 20th century, radio equipment began to take the lead in the industry. A significant number of contemporary items of military communications equipment are designed to not only encrypt and decode transmissions, but also to withstand harsh conditions and to operate in dangerous environments. They send messages to other radios and satellites using a variety of frequencies in order to communicate with them.

The actions, equipment, techniques, and tactics that are utilized by the military in some of the most dangerous regions of the planet and in tough situations such as battlefields, on land (compare radio in a box), underwater, and also in the air are referred to as comms in the military vocabulary. Before computers were fully integrated, the military communications system was referred to as the C3I model. This system encompassed command, control, and communications as well as intelligence collecting. After recognizing the significant role that automated computer technology plays in the transmission and reception of massive amounts of data, the United States Army decided to expand the model to include its C4I capabilities.

When it comes to the modern world, the majority of nations make an effort to reduce the likelihood of wars being triggered by misunderstandings or insufficient communication. Because of this, military communication is intense and sophisticated, and it frequently serves as a driving force behind the development of cutting-edge technology for distant systems. These technologies include satellites, aircraft, both crewed and uncrewed, and aircraft, as well as computers. Computers and the myriad of applications they offer have completely transformed military communications. In spite of the fact that military communication is constructed for the purpose of conflict, it also facilitates the gathering of intelligence and communication between enemies, and as a result, it can occasionally prevent war.

There are six different types of military communications::

alert measurement systems

cryptography

military radio systems

command and control of nuclear weapons

signal corps

a warfare that is network-centric

The many stages of alertness or preparedness for the armed forces that are utilized all over the world during a state of war, an act of terrorism, or a military attack against a state are referred to as the alert measuring systems during these situations. Different acronyms are used to refer to them, such as DEFCON, which stands for defense readiness condition and is utilized by the United States Armed Forces.

In the field of cryptography, the study of methods that convert messages into a form that is unreadable to anybody other than someone who is able to decrypt them is taught. This age-old method of military communication gained new significance as a result of the proliferation of radio systems, whose signals could travel great distances and were simple to intercept. Moreover, cryptographic software is utilized extensively in the realm of civilian trade.

The term commercial refile is used in the context of the United States military's communications systems to refer to the transmission of a military message through a commercial communications network. It is possible that the communication originated from a military network, such as a tape relay network, a point-to-point telegraph network, a radio-telegraph network, or the Defense Switched Network.

Refiling a message for commercial purposes will typically necessitate reformatting the message, notably the heading at the beginning of the message.

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from Federal Standard 1037C.

Organization in Charge of General Services.

(in support of MIL-STD-188).

{End Chapter 1}

Chapter 2: Signals intelligence

Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence gathered by the interception of signals, including communications between people (COMINT) and electronic signals not directly utilized for communication (ELINT). Signals intelligence is a subset of management of intelligence collecting. As confidential and sensitive information is typically encrypted, signals intelligence employs cryptanalysis to decipher messages. Again, traffic analysis — the study of who is signaling who and in what quantity — is utilized to combine data.

Electronic interceptions arose as early as 1900,